A tender-breasted bird. Tumescent blossoms with sad eyes. Based on Oscar Wilde’s eponymous fairy tale, this animated version brings to life the paintings of Del Kathryn Barton. Transporting the story to a pictorial world of surreal beauty, the film turns the tale into a nocturne about the solitude at the heart of true love.A young man desperately seeks a red rose so that he may ask his beloved to dance with him. Deeply touched by his feelings, the nightingale decides to sacrifice herself. In a thorny act of love she sheds her own life’s blood on a colourless rose to create the coveted red bloom. But is her sacrifice rewarded? Is there still a place for love in a world where prejudice and cold self-interest abound? The writer, renowned for his sarcasm, leaves us with a malicious punch line.